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Scientists have uncovered seven surprising stages that space rocks go through as they hurtle toward Earth, revealing that melting and violent fragmentation, rather than simple evaporation, determine their fate. The discovery could help explain why meteorites scatter across the ground and how dangerous asteroids explode in Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists have gained a clearer understanding of what happens when rocks from space plunge into Earth’s atmosphere and survive the journey to the ground. After examining video recordings and photographs of 75 meteorite falls, researchers identified seven stages that describe how these objects transform into meteorites. Their analysis reveals that melting and breaking apart play a much greater role than previously believed in determining how much material a rock loses, how quickly it slows down, and where its fragments eventually land. The findings were published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

“We used to think that solid rocks would evaporate from the enormous heat and brilliant light generated in the air collision,” said meteor astronomer and lead author Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. “We found instead that first melting and then fragmentation controls how a rock loses mass.”